Justin Porter is a professional wedding videographer based in San Antonio, Texas, where he runs an independent production business. The videos he delivers to his clients are never stale or schmaltzy—they are entertaining, fun, and heartfelt. In an industry that’s sometimes thought of as rote and routine, Justin’s work is described as having a “Netflix documentary” level of polish and zing.

You don’t just wake up one morning and find that you’ve transformed into a gifted filmmaker, it takes years of practice, trial, and error. Justin first discovered Nanlite when searching for a more professional solution for his lighting. “I was honestly so tired of horrible apps and cheap fixtures. What I loved about Nanlite was the competitive pricing. It was PREMIUM for an affordable price.”

It wasn’t long before Nanlite became his primary fixtures for both on-the-move wedding capture and studio shoots. The lightweight yet robust design suited his needs perfectly. “We use eight Nanlite Forza 60B II's for reception lighting and Nanlite PavoSlim 240C’s for interviews. They are just the best panels for travelling.” The Forza 60B II is a bi-color LED spotlight that fits in your hand yet provides impressive punch. PavoSlim 240C is a thin yet durable 2x2 LED panel light that folds down to a 2x1 size for travel and storage.

Both of those types of lights offer the ability to run on battery power, which is essential when capturing the motion of a wedding. When in “run-and-gun” mode, which could be following the bride or groom around early in the day during preparation, catching truly candid moments, or during the wedding itself when the video team needs to transfer from ceremony, to cocktail hour, to reception, Justin relies on Nanlite to capture these fleeting moments best. “More often than not, you'll always see one of our Nanlite Forza 60B II's in the background or a PavoTube II 6C.”

Shooting the critical moments of a wedding and the various environments of the reception and other parts of the event is incredibly challenging and complicated for video producers. It doesn’t just need to be captured, it needs to look amazing and sound great. Justin has evolved his technical approach to this over the years, and compact Nanlite fixtures and light-shapers have helped. “…you can't get away with huge modifiers and eye-sore diffusions. I had to get creative with how we light to be able to bring more ambient lighting without causing distractions.”

In addition to his JPM Weddings business, Justin also runs a popular YouTube channel that’s focused on the practice of filmmaking. He has found his Nanlite fixtures to be a big help in this area as well. “We use them a lot in my studio for our YouTube videos. Being able to run it all from scenes on the app is game changing.” The NANLINK mobile app is free, powerful, it has separate versions for iOS, iPad OS, Android, and Android tablets, and it fully controls Nanlux fixtures as well.

Justin is also an educator who runs the JPM Live Academy that teaches fellow wedding videographers his approach to applying documentary-style filmmaking to the trade. When asked if his students have trouble with lighting, Justin said, “A lot of the filmmakers I teach in my academy struggle with lighting. Honestly, I still do myself. What I've learned and try to teach is how to assess a frame. What areas are problematic and how to spot or correct it.”

…and that’s a beautiful thing. If you’re not learning something new, even as the mentor, then you’re stagnating. This is not the case with Justin Porter and JPM Weddings.